NBC celebrates an improbable curling victory for US men

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United States's skip John Shuster reacts during the men's final curling match against Sweden at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangneung, South Korea, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2018. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

United States' Matt Hamilton prepares for their turn during the men's curling finals match against Sweden at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangneung, South Korea, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2018. United States won gold. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Skaters perform during the finale at the figure skating exhibition gala in the Gangneung Ice Arena at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangneung, South Korea, Sunday, Feb. 25, 2018. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

Korea's coach Bob de Jong of The Netherlands, hugs gold medalist Lee Seung-hoon of South Korea as silver medalist Bart Swings of Belgium, left, and Livio Wenger of Switzerland, right, stand by after the men's mass start speedskating race at the Gangneung Oval at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangneung, South Korea, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2018. (AP Photo/John Locher)

NEW YORK (AP) — Highlights from media coverage of the Pyeongchang Olympics:

CURLING GOLD: "Two days ago it was unlikely," NBC's Jason Knapp said as the American men's curling team clinched a gold medal . "Now it is undeniable." How unlikely? The team had lost four of its first six games in South Korea but got hot at the right time. NBC replayed the late-night victory Saturday afternoon and team members visited with daytime host Rebecca Lowe in the network studio. John Shuster spoke movingly of overcoming past failures to win with a brilliant late-game throw. "I just decided my story wasn't going to end this way," he said. Bleary-eyed, five team members returned later for a talk with Mike Tirico that ended with an ovation from NBC's backstage crew.

SKATING GALA: Nice touch for NBC to assign Scott Hamilton to the skating gala. He's been nothing but class since losing the top commentator role to Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir.

MASS START? Mass confusion. The final speedskating competition was a crowded race called the mass start that left us baffled. Tom Hammond and Joey Cheek needed to explain the race's rules before it started. What is a sprint lap and why do you get points for it? What is the strategy involved?

BOBSLED HISTORY: John Morgan is going to need a few weeks to catch his breath after the bobsled competition. A tie for silver in the four-man race? "We're witnessing history here!" he said. The "house of speed has had us on the edge of our seats for every race," he said. Come to think of it, the "house of speed" should be renamed the "house of excitement." Meanwhile, it will be the last bobsled most of Morgan's viewers see for four years.

BACK IN TIME: As the competition winds down, NBC rolls out some of its prepared features. On Saturday afternoon, a Rob Lowe-narrated film told the story of the men's and women's figure skating competition at the Calgary Olympics in 1988 and, most interestingly, what happened to the participants since then. Serena Williams will narrate a film on 1968 on Sunday afternoon.

YOU ARE GETTING SLEEPY: Was that a tray of cupcakes on the table in front of Tirico, or are we just getting delusional?

RATINGS: NBC did not have a viewership estimate available for Friday night's telecast. The overnight ratings from the nation's largest markets were the lowest for the games so far. It did, however, estimate that 1.6 million people watched the curling finale, which began at 1:30 a.m. Eastern on Saturday. That means Saturday was an early night to bed for a lot of people in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

PARIS (AP) — The squat glass bottles held the urine of sport's greatest stars and helped confound its cheating scoundrels. The "click, click" of their locking caps being firmly screwed on was a familiar sound to athletes around the world, on early mornings when sample collectors knocked on their doors and at doping control stations at the Olympic Games, World Cups and other major events.

But now, after two decades of behind-the-scenes service to the cause of clean sport, Berlinger bottles are joining the list of victims of Russian skullduggery.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's skiing federation has banned for life two male mogul skiers who competed at the Pyeongchang Olympics for harassing and assaulting two female teammates at a World Cup event last week in Japan.

GANGNEUNG, South Korea (AP) — The most talked-about athlete in the Paralympics barely plays, but who cares? The diminutive but hard-nosed reserve forward on South Korea's sled hockey team proudly admits he's just happy to be here.